Lamy plan ‘harms developing countries’

Date: 13/06/02

By David Cronin

AN EU initiative aimed at prising open new markets could inflict huge damage on developing countries, anti-poverty campaigners predict.

Foreign ministers are expected to back Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy's 'instrument for development' and endorse talks on liberalising trade with 76 countries from the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region when they meet next week (17-18 June).

Although Britain, Denmark and The Netherlands have reservations about the initiative, they are unlikely to alter it radically.

However, Eurostep, the umbrella group for charities such as Oxfam and ActionAid, believes that ACP states are not yet ready for economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the Union. 'This is not because we don't believe in free trade,' said policy analyst Guggi Laryea. 'It's just that most ACP countries don't have their economies adjusted for it.'

South Africa was the first ACP country to have a trade accord with the Union in 2000. Eurostep says it has been detrimental to South African trade as the EU has blocked exports which fail to meet its exacting food safety and hygiene standards.

Major job losses are feared in the lemon and orange sector, employing about one million people, because the Union has restricted imports of citrus fruit with 'black spot', for example. Development groups accuse the EU of protectionism, arguing that scientific evidence does not suggest that the commonly found lesion presents a health risk.

Meanwhile, the Mauritian Ambassador to the EU, Sautiawan Gunessee, said his country would incur revenue losses of up to 17 if it could not impose tariffs on EU imports.

An EU initiative aimed at prising open new markets could inflict huge damage on developing countries, anti-poverty campaigners predict.